For the first time in history, the Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers map the high-speed burps of a nearby quasar.
Hubble Space Telescope Maps Burps From a Quasar
For the first time, scientists have used the Hubble Space Telescope to image the plasma "burps" of a quasar fueled by a feeding supermassive black hole near Earth.
Anna Juráňová and her colleagues identified four distinct plasma outflows from the vicinity of I Zwicky 1. They discovered they were traveling at 200 times the speed of sound, 134,000 mph (217,000 kph), and an astounding 6.5 million mph (10.5 million kph), or around 8,500 times the sound speed and 1% of the speed of light.
According to the researchers, one of the outflows seemed to be "caught in the shadow" of another black hole burp. This occurs when ultraviolet light from the accretion disk is absorbed by components such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in clouds of matter near the black hole, pushing the radiation away as a result. Not only is this the first instance of this mechanism being observed by astronomers, but it also shows that I Zwicky 1's immediate surroundings are more active than the AGN homes of other quasars.
"Our data suggest that far more gas is being lifted and blown out from the disk around the black hole," Juráňová said in a statement. "Having this insight brings us closer to unraveling the way these supermassive black holes grow and interact with their surroundings."
This nearby quasar, known as "I Zwicky 1," is a great place to investigate the extreme circumstances surrounding active galactic nuclei (AGN). AGNs are places so luminous that they can eclipse the combined light of all the stars in the surrounding galaxy. This includes the matter "burps" or outflows from the supermassive black hole's environs.
I Zwicky 1 is home to a supermassive black hole with a mass estimated to be 9.3 million suns. It is believed to consume matter at an astonishing rate and can generate strong jets that propel fast-moving objects, or "burps."
Juráňová said I Zwicky 1 has particularly unique qualities. Similar outflows can be found in other quasars, but everything is absolutely right in this one, including the spectrum's line widths, viewing angle, and other factors. This enables them to examine its workings in much greater depth.
What Is a Quasar?
Quasars are early universe objects with extreme luminosities believed to be fueled by supermassive black holes. The reason quasars received their name is that when astronomers first noticed them in the late 1950s and early 1960s, they resembled stars. But stars aren't quasars.
Scientists have learned that these galaxies are young and that their numbers increase approaching the edge of the visible cosmos despite their great distance from us. Due to their extreme activity, they radiate enormous volumes of energy throughout the electromagnetic spectrum.
Since they are so far away, we view these objects as if they were in the early stages of our cosmos. J0313-1806 is the oldest quasar reported. It is roughly 13.03 billion light-years away, and we view it as only 670 million years after the Big Bang.
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